Discharge from persons of static electricity in homes and offices is an annoying and a serious problem. Heart patients, for example, can be placed in jeopardy by the shock of such discharges. More recently such static discharges are interfering with proper operation of all sorts of electronic equipment which are used in increasing numbers everywhere, e.g. homes, offices, factories. For example electronic pacemakers for heart patients can malfunction due to static discharge. The discharge of static electricity by persons using electric equipment is a serious concern as it causes malfunctions of all sorts of business machines. In computers, for example, it may cause loss or alteration of data in memory, changes or errors in the computer programs, uncontrolled and unwanted printer output. Whenever people must operate equipment: point of sale terminals, bank terminals, mini and microcomputers, data entry equipment, tape and disk drives, printers; static discharge is a problem.
To attempt to overcome this problem static control devices such as floor mats for placement at the operator position in front of the machines, are offered; for example, 3M's Velostat floor mats, which are relatively inexpensive and easy to place. However, to complete installation of such devices they must be properly electrically connected to a solid ground or earth ground such as typically provided by "cold water" ground connections. Presently this usually requires an electrician's services at a substantial cost to find an earth ground and run a conductor from the ground point to the floor mat or other device to be grounded.